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Obama arrives in Saudi Arabia for talks with Gulf allies

By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and ADAM SCHRECK, Associated Press

Updated:
04/20/2016 07:40:08 AM EDT

President Barack Obama arrives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Obama is expected to meet with King Salman and attend a meeting of Gulf Arab heads of state of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries during his two-day visit to the kingdom. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- President Barack Obama landed in Riyadh on Wednesday to meet with Saudi King Salman and other Persian Gulf allies. The visit comes against the backdrop of increasingly strained relations with the Saudis, who remain deeply opposed to his outreach to Iran and skeptical of his approach to Syria.

Stepping off the tarmac at King Khalid International Airport, Obama was greeted on a red carpet by Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the governor of Riyadh. Saudi state television did not immediately air Obama's arrival, but before Air Force One landed, State TV showed King Salman greeting other senior officials from Gulf nations arriving for the Gulf Cooperation Council summit.

Obama's first stop in Saudi Arabia was a one-on-one meeting with King Salman at Riyadh's Erga Palace on Wednesday before the six-nation GCC summit opens on Thursday. This is the president's fourth to the kingdom since taking office.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain are participating in the regional summit, which the White House said would focus on regional stability, counterterrorism including the fight against the Islamic State and al-Qaida, and Iran. Talks are also expected to address the Saudi-led military campaign against Shiite rebels and their allies in neighboring Yemen.

U.S. officials have expressed hope the latest meeting will build on last year's Camp David summit, though they acknowledge differences remain between the U.

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S. and Saudi Arabia.

The Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom -- the world's biggest oil exporter and the largest buyer of American-made weapons -- sees Shiite-led Iran as its main rival. Saudi leaders are concerned that concessions granted to Iran in last year's nuclear deal will embolden it to pursue what the Saudis view as aggressive meddling throughout the region.

Saudi Arabia and Iran back opposing sides in the civil war in Syria and in the conflict in Yemen, where the U.S. military is providing refueling and other logistical help to the Saudi-led war effort.

Obama was slated to spend little more than 24 hours in the Saudi capital before heading on to visits to London and Hannover, Germany.

Joining the Gulf leaders was Moroccan King Mohammed VI, who was invited to take part in Thursday's summit by the Saudi monarch. Defense ministers from the six Gulf states held talks earlier in the day with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also the kingdom's defense minister, said ahead of Obama's visit that the Gulf and the U.S. must work together to confront challenges including terrorism, instability and what he described as Iranian interference into regional countries' affairs.

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